Back into the Yukon

August 13, 2013

Alaska/Yukon – Thursday, August 1

I had stopped sort of close to Glennallen last night, and it didn’t take too long to get there, although there was a lot of road repair work going on, and we had to wait for a pilot car to lead us through the zone again. I started to hear a loud screeching noise, and thought it was the truck ahead of me. But then I realized the racket was coming from my right front wheel. I knew I’d have to stop in Glennallen to see what that was. So I made my noisy way to the visitor center to ask about repair shops, and found out that I’d already passed through town – there wasn’t much to it, despite the fact it looked like a bigger one on the map! But I found out where a repair place was, and made a sharp turn out of the visitor center, and all of a sudden the noise stopped. I wondered if something had been stuck in the wheel that fell out when I turned. Just to be sure things were okay, I stopped by the shop and mentioned the noise to the guy, and he said it’s not uncommon for a stone to get stuck between a bearing and something else, and create a noise, and then it often falls out. The van seemed fine, and I was pretty much reassured I could safely set off the next 140 miles of wilderness. Along the way, I passed the turnoff for the other little segment of road I haven’t driven in Alaska, and was tempted to drive those 60 miles. But it would be slow going, and I’d have to come back 60 miles, and I just needed to continue on – it will be on my list of roads to drive when I come back to Alaska sometime in the future. I made it up to Tok, and then finished the final 100 miles to the Canadian border. It was kind of hard to leave.

Shortly after I crossed the border and went through customs, I passed through the town of Beaver Creek, which is the westernmost town in all of Canada. This area around the border has the worst stretch of roads as far as potholes, frost heaves and pavement frequently changing to gravel. Typical speeds were 30-40mph, so it was kind of a slow go for a while through the Yukon. But I covered a couple hundred miles in a southeast direction, and passed the nice campground that had the helicopter, and drove by the familiar mountains and alongside lakes. I came to the Kluane Lake area, and then I saw a really nice-looking campground, and figured I better stop for the night. I didn’t want to spend 2 nights in a row alongside the road! The office had already closed, and a sign said to just take care of registration in the morning. Tula and I took a walk around the campground after I was set up, and there were mountains everywhere I looked. The campground is on the huge lake, which seemed to be a big recreation area, and even though it was pretty full, but it was very peaceful and quiet